Little
by Jaegershark
Summary: Welcome to the Trost Mental Hospital, where everything bizarre happens everyday. There's also a violent kidnapping of a brown-haired boy too, if you'd like.


**Guess what guys? :D I got my haircut today and it looks so much like Eren's! X'D**

**Also, Mikasa is born a Jaeger in this story. Ages will also be changed for story purposes.**

**I don't own anything but the writing...**

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><p>"Okay, let's just get this correct. You're Rivaille Ackermann, thirty, and a shorty little grump?"<p>

Hanji let out a scowl as Levi gave her a harsh punch in her shoulders, then winced because it hurt his knuckles. He sighed; first day at work and it's all talk about his height. I mean come on, height doesn't matter on whatever job you are unless that involves basketball, right? Still, you can play basketball when you're pretty short - okay, enough about the basketball rant. It's just that he hated how people give often snarky comments about his height. He's born short - so what? Problems? Any complaints can be put in the complaint box, but Levi doesn't check that bull.

"It's Levi. Not Rivaille."

That is another thing he hated. Often as a child he had difficulties spelling out his own birth name 'Rivaille' and it irked him, and so he just wrote out 'Levi' to make things simpler because whenever he say his name is 'Rivaille' people would write it down as 'Rival' or 'Rivel' which is miles off his real name, and to avoid himself breaking people's necks just befause they mispelled his name he kept it 'Levi'. Still, there were those who were dumb enough to write down 'Leafy'.

"Aye aye then, shorty. It's Hanji for ya." she grinned, offering her hand. However Levi only stared at it and raised his eyebrow, so Hanji just cleared his throat and put her hand to the side.

"First time?"

"No, I've had experiences working in a mental hospital before. This one's just closer and pays much more, and you don't ride trains back and forth to your house."

"Oho. Well then, this won't be hard for you." she grinned behind her red spectacles. "There's four floors. Ground Floor's the lobby. The upper three floors are where the patients are kept, and the second floor's where's my babies at." she giggled. "Where've you been assigned to eh, shorty?"

"Second floor. Unfortunately."

"Goody goody! We'll be best pals from now on! Seriously though everyone in this hospital is _sooooo_ grey." Hanji huffed. "Let's just hope ya ain't that grey too, mhmm?"

"I think everyone else here is fine; just too normal for your liking." Levi grunted. Hell, the woman needs to be a patient herself.

He had enrolled in The Trost Hospital just a few weeks ago, and after he undergone some tests and interviews today he had started his job he had been doing for the past eight years - just in a different place. It doesn't look much of a difference to him; white walls, many rooms and many, many corridors. The rules were pretty much the same and the system works the same. Nothing different, just different eccentric residents.

The floors indicate the level of patient's 'craziness'. The topmost floor was the floor where the people who lost their sanity. Levi had chosen to be assigned in the second floor because he didn't want his shifts to be too hard or too boring.

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><p>"Well here we are. Just after lunchtime." Hanji grinned. "It's free time after lunchtime for them, and our jobs is to-"<p>

"Keep out for any weirdoes trying to top themselves, yeah." Levi grunted. "I know that already, this is not my first time."

"Ooooohkay then." Hanji sighed. "Aw jeez shorty, you've turned out to be grey after all."

"Tch."

Levi crossed her arms, standing and walking around looking out for anyone who tried to do anything crazy. After a while he had to pull out a freckled guy (what was his nametag again... Marco?) who was trying to climb out an open window, and the dude was sobbing afterwards. And upon hearing the guy crying some blonde horsefaced-kid tried to beat the crap out of Levi for 'Hurting my boyfriend's feelings!', but in the end Levi got his head hung down low and told him to 'Be a good boy' - although Levi was pretty sure the guy was eighteen or some sort, and easily much taller than him.

He walked up and down the corridors to encounter a boy banging his head on the wall repeatedly, alone in the corner with a short blonde-haired boy trying to convince him something. Seeing as no staff had noticed him Levi approached him, sighing.

Levi read the blonde boy's name tag.

"So what's up with him, Ar-meen, whatever your name is?" Levi barked. He wished he would've said it more softer as the blonde boy had winced, but then it was natural for him to snark up his tone.

"He's u-pset again, t-the third t-time t... th-this day." the blue-eyed boy stuttered - not of fear, Levi had known. He knew straight away the boy feared of everything and had stuttered every single word he would say - even though when he wasn't afraid. Hey, this is a mental hospital. Everything weird here is classified normal.

"I-I'm try-trying to c... convince him to be h-ha-happy, b-but I guess I-I'm not d...doing any good, a-am I?" The boy chuckled nervously, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. Levi sighed, putting a hand on the blonde-boy's friend's shoulder.

Levi couldn't see his face but his hair was dark brown, and he had a lean and thin build. His shoulders were slumped and his white hospital shirt hung on his back and dangled down his body, and his arms were limp as his feet rocked back and forth towards the wall, hitting his head everytime he rocked forwards.

"Oi, brat, you gotta stop that." Levi said, trying to keep his voice less of a growl. The rocking stopped and the boy tilted his head to face him, his cheeks wet with tears. Levi for a moment was lost in the depth of his green eyes before it blinked back at him.

"Wha... at?" he said sluggishly. "Stop... stop..."

"Erm," Levi glanced at his nametag. "Eren."

"E... E... Eren." he echoed. He giggled tearfully. Then his face fell back down into a sad frown.

"Who's Eren?" he questioned, his face somehow instantly turned blank and his brows crinkling up in confusion. He looked up at Levi. "Are you Eren?"

"No, _you're _Eren." Levi 'tch'd. Then again he couldn't blame the boy, he was mentally unstable and you couldn't help being unstable.

"I'm Eren?" he said, his eyes widening in confusion. "But I thought my name was Eren Jaeger."

"Well there you go, you're Eren." Levi grunted. "Now stop banging your head on the wall, brat. 'Ar-meen' here is worried."

Eren blinked twice, before standing up straight, fully facing Levi, however his shoulders were still slumped. His eyes were still clouded with confusion.

"I wasn't banging my head, I was eating my lunch." he huffed like a little schoolboy. Then he looked like something hard had hit his head, and he looked at the blonde boy, "Armin, does this room look strange to you? The cafeteria just shifted into the Community Room!"

"O-oh no Eren, I a-am ce-ce-certain we're in the C-Community Room. We-we left the cafeteria a-an hour a-a-ago."

"...Oh." the boy said. Then he faced the wall again, and started banging his head on the wall again, only this time he was holding on to the wall and he was furiously _banging _his forehead on the wall, and Levi was certain he heard a crack - God forbid it was Eren's forehead and it was the wall instead, but when Levi pulled his back from the wall he saw a glimpse of red staining the white wallpaper. Or was it just his imagination?

"Let me go! Let me go!"

The boy was a good inches taller than Levi and he was kicking and screaming but Levi was all used to this, keeping a firm grip around his waist. Eren tried to strangle the shorter man from the front while being death-gripped by the man, his arms thrown backwards while his legs kicked at the man's shins. But no matter how much he trashed Levi wasn't going to let him go any time soon.

"Eren!"

Levi saw a woman staff running towards him and the kicking boy, and immediately after seeing the woman Eren had stopped thrashing. Immediately Eren started to sob.

"Eren, are you okay? What's the matter?"

"I don't know!" he cried hysterically. "I don't even know what's happening right now, Mikasa, I- I-"

"Shh, it's fine. Don't worry, you're still improving."

The thing Levi noticed about he woman was that she had a red scarf, which deeply contrasted the hospital uniform consisting of white crisp whirt and blue pants. Although she saw that Kevi done nothing she glared at him with her onyx eyes, and Levi returned the daggers icily.

"Rivaille, right?" the woman (supposedly named 'Mikasa') addressed him. Levi rolled his eyes.

"It's Levi."

"You're nametage says otherwise." Mikasa barked, snatching Eren from Levi's grip. "What happened to him?"

"Stumbled across the kid banging his head on the wall." Levi said steely. "Didn't remember his own name, got confused with the cafeteria and the Community Room."

"Oh, poor, poor Eren." she cooed soothingly, stroking the boy's hair. Eren sniffled. "Don't worry, you'll be better in no time, alright? You're still improving each day, even if it is a little bit!"

She uttered words of encouragement. Levi frowned - the woman looked really agressive and tough, but it looked like as if she was another person to Eren - whatever his name was. Was the boy a soft spot in her heart?

"Armin, lookout for him, alright?" she said in the same kindly tone to the blonde boy.

"Y-yeah! Of c-cou-course!" he smiled. "Come on, E-Eren. I-it's gather-up t-time!"

Eren suddenly snapped out of his crying. "Unh?" he looked at Armin. "But I thought it's freetime. We had our lunch, haven't we?"

"A-ah, we had p-past that. Come on Eren, l-let... let's go!"

Armin tugged at his friend's arm and joined the other patients that sat around in a circle around the room, some sort of bell ringing while both boys joined the circle.

Mikasa returned to her demonic sense and looked (more like glared) at Levi. However, Levi only shrugged at her.

"New guy that came in today?" she said, crossing her arms.

"Levi Ackermann."

"Mikasa Jaeger."

They stiffly shook hands, Levi grunting at the height difference. However Mikasa seemed to ignore this.

"Jaeger? So that's your lil' bro?"

"Mmhm. He might not look like it but he's fifteen. I just took the job for the sake of looking out for him."

"Hm."

Mikasa nodded. An odd chatter had started in the room, and the hospital staff proceeded in a clump near the circle.

"Well, hello everyone." Erwin Smith smiled, in the centre of the circle. Levi scoffed, it was almost like kindergarten where the children surrounded the teacher in a circle. Then again... it IS a mental hospital.

Some responded in a zombie-like moan while others giggled like children, waving wildly. Levi could see through the many patients Eren's confused face, and Armin tugging at his arm trying to explain what was going on since Eren shifted a lot of reality and time-memory.

"We have some new staff today for the second floor." Erwin searched the staff. "Here we have Petra Ral and Levi Ackermann!"

Levi grunted in approval, seeing as the hospital head didn't call him by Rivaille. He grudgingly walked to the centre of the gawping (goodness, they look like goldfishes) patients, joining the (unfortunately) tall man and a ginger-haired woman, dressed in the similar fashion as to him, only wearing blue skirts rather than pants.

"Levi?" Eren raised his hand up suddenly. "Why are you so short?"

The group chortled with laughter, Levi glaring daggers at everyone. At seemed more of a point-out rather than a question, however, and Levi let that pass on. Erwin did a gentle shook of his head at Eren, chuckling.

The gather-up had the purpose of the patients socializing with each other, asking and andwering questions. It took place several hours before the patients had to settle to their rooms at half-past eight. Levi was assigned to put the patients to their rooms for the east corridor of the floor.

"I don't wanna sleeeeeeep!" Eren sulked, crossing his arms, looking like a small angry child. "Sleeping is for little children!"

"Yeah, you're not eighteen, you're still a little kid."

"No." Eren huffed, puffing his cheeks out, sassily looking away with his lips pouted. Levi could hardly believe the guy was fifteen.

"Yes. Look, see? Everyone had gone to their rooms. Even Armin."

"Noooo." he protested. "Anyways, it's nearly lunchtime! Why would everyone be sleeping right now?"

Levi grunted. Man, the guy was a little cuckoo that needs to be fixed. "Eren. It's bedtime."

"No."

"You'll lose your points, then." Levi threatened. Eren looked hesistant for a while, before hanging his head in defeat, growling, muttering curses that Levi's ear had easily picked up. He rolled his eyes before steering Eren into his room.

Fifteen years old? More like five.

"Hey, don't turn off the lights!" Eren whined. "The bugs will bite me!"

"Yeah well, if I don't turn off the lights, the monster under the bed won't be too happy." Levi snarked. "Go to sleep, Eren."

"Who's Eren?" the boy scratched his head. "Man, Mr. Levi, you've been calling me Eren all the time."

"Well of course, Eren is my best friend! He's the wall." Levi deadpanned, full-on sarcasm.

"Really? But I thought Eren was me."

Levi groaned, slapping his own forehead. "Go to sleep. Bye."

Just as he was about to close the door, Eren called for him again.

"What do you possibly want!?"

"Could I have a good-night kiss?" Eren pouted. Levi almost choked at the statement.

"No."

"Pwetty pweeeaaase?"

"For goodne- goodnight, Eren."

"I'm hungry."

"SHUT UUUUUUUP!"

Levi angrily slammed the door, pocketing his hands. He sighed.

"Whoa there, bad day?" Hanji greeted him with a stupid grin at the end of the corridor. Levi mumbled something inapropriate at her, grumbling.

"Was that Eren?" Hanji giggled. "He's the liveliest of the resident, see. He has so much enthusiasm and spirit in the Trost! You know everyone in here should follow his example..."

Her words were drowned as Levi ignored her. As he walked down the stairs of the hospital he heard some sort of cry, calling out in the lone dark.

Might as well drown it out from his ears.

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><p><strong>And teh prolouge is DOOOONE! *dies*<strong>

**I know it's a bit boring, bear with me. But the next chapters will be good, I swear! ;0**

**- Jaegershark**


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